It seems to be a common thing in mobility: the autonomous driving industries in China and the US are leading the pack. US company Waymo alone has been in the market for a decade and is backed by a billion dollars a year, while the rest of the world (except China) looks on with envy at the thousands of trips now being made in San Francisco by Level 4 cars. Waymo’s vehicles have become normal participants in today’s mobility mix in California, accepted and fully operational without safety drivers.
The ‘Chinese Waymo’ is called WeRide and was founded in 2017. The company recently listed on New York's Technology Stock Exchange Nasdaq and claims to be the only company in the world with licenses for driverless vehicles in China, the US, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. The product portfolio ranges from autonomous taxis, vans and buses to street sweepers – all driving without the drive behind the steering wheel.
With these strong poles - the US and China - European companies find it difficult to step out of the shadows on the old continent. Here, mobility providers face the challenges of fragmented markets, not one but many currencies, languages, rules and regulations. So, what are the key factors to unlocking the potential of autonomous driving in the EU, and how can this be achieved?
How can the European mobility industry close this gap?
Mobility expert Jonas Seyfferth from PWC in Munich stated on LinkedIn that Europe’s role as an incubator can be viable. ”The U.S. leads in tech development, China in industrialisation - but Europe can become a multi-facetted incubator for sector- or application-specific AD solutions. A good mix of blue chips and hidden champions across many industries as well as multiple economically strong cities create an attractive B2B / B2G demand side”, he stated after the event in Munich.
In a presentation from Sarah Gates, Director Public Policy of UK-startup Wayve we learnt that recent breakthroughs in AI allow for alternative technological pathways towards Level 4. With their novel end-to-end approach while building one foundational model across all AD layers, Wayve has just managed to raise $1bn. Now expanding to the U.S. - the AD company shows that strong investor confidence also exists when looking at the European AD participants.
Third point: many speakers on the day claimed that Europe must focus investments on regional clusters to scale pilot projects into significant fleets. Go it alone no longer works, in particular in the capital intense AD mobility space. Leading the pack in terms of size here in Europe is the partnership of RUTER and Danish company HOLO in Norway. By 2030 the partners plan to run 30,000 autonomous vehicles in Oslo. In Hamburg the local mobility crew around Senator Anjes Tjarks and the Volkswagen Group with their MOIA shuttles plan to have 10,000 self-driving vehicles in action. These partnerships are out to demonstrate technical & commercial viability in urban spaces.
And finally, in Europe we need to shift the mindset by adopting a vision that embraces bold ideas as well as cross-functional collaboration: across industries, value chains, across regions and by bridging significant gaps from today’s small pilots. The goal must be to not only advance technological development but also help build the social acceptance that is vital for widespread implementation. At the symposium the US leaders Mobileye, Zoox and Waymo lead the narrative but European players were keen to point out that the local markets can be served by local EU players too. We’ll keep you posted on the European advancements in autonomous driving.
Copyright images: Waymo, Wayve, TUM Panel Discussion image copyright Acelya Aktas.
